Gateway Project opens new U.S. approach to the Ambassador Bridge

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The Gateway Project is in its final stages now that the ramps to the Detroit side of the Ambassador bridge are open to traffic to primary expressways connecting to the international bridge.

"We're about 95 percent done," says Rob Morosi, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation. "We have reached the milestone where we can open ramps to the plaza from I-96 and I-75."

The opened ramps will take the traffic off of the service drives and other local roads in Southwest Detroit in adjacent Mexicantown and Corktown. The open ramps will also allow motorists the option to access toll booths directly or visit the duty-free plaza before proceeding to the Ambassador Bridge.

The remaining construction consists of roadwork on the surface streets that traffic had been diverted to for years. That roadwork consists of Rosa Parks Boulevard between Fort Street and Michigan Avenue and on the I-75 services drives.

The opening of the ramps comes less than seven months after Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Prentis Edwards directed the Detroit International Bridge Co to cede control of their portion of the $230 million project and ordered Michigan Department of Transportation to complete the remaining work. In the March 8 Opinion and Order issued by Judge Edwards, the Detroit International Bridge Co was directed to deposit $16 million into an account to fund construction.